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write your own review of the Baofeng UV3R.
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SAPPHIRE
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Rating: 1/5
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Feb 22, 2012 10:07
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low cost
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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adjusting the volume difficult.
minimum volume too high.
whith headphones sometimes remains in transmission
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WB3IGR
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 15, 2012 11:16
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Great!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I have had mine now for 5 months. It gets about the same amount of use as my cell phone. Been charging it every day weather the battery was drained or not and still get all day TX/RX. My latest is running mobile with an outside dual band mag mount anntenna. Can't get all the repeaters but I would say that it sure increases the range. I also bought the USB cable and with software program. It makes programing easyer than ever (not that it's hard to program manually). I would rate this little radio a 6 but the ratings only go to 5 here on E-Ham
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G6UDE
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 13, 2012 22:20
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Excellent value in spite of buggy firmware
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Excellent value for money dual band, dual standby HT, with good performance V/V U/U
On the whole, the UV3R is excellent value for money. You’re not getting Yaesu quality of course, but they are amazing value, all things considered.
The firmware on some mk ii versions is a little “buggy” but those foibles can generally be worked around.
Latest Mark ii model I purchased (Dec 2011) has a housing made of different material to previous examples. It feels less robust to me and somewhat lower quality. This radio also has a “buggy” user interface, whereby CTCSS /DCS tones cannot be set on VHF in VFO mode, but can be set in Memory mode??! Also VHF frequency range in VFO mode is expanded up to 210Mhz ( I doubt that the supplied dual band antenna will be very well tuned up there though!). To get it replaced, the faulty unit will have to be returned to Hong Kong, which will cost almost as much as purchasing a new unit. So I’m stuck with it……but even with this fault it is good value for money for my channelized requirements
I noticed that a mk iii version has just started to appear. This appears to have a different form factor and a true drop-in charger, hopefully somone will review this model soon.
Everything else about these little gems is covered in other reviews on this site. There is little else to add.
Pros
Price , price, price
Cons
No alpha memories,
no priority scan,
slow scan speed,
no upper and lower
VFO frequency limit can not be limited by user programming, which makes scanning in VFO mode a pain.
There is no facility for repeater reverse frequency, but this can of course be programmed into separate memory channels.
But all said and done, this radio is a competent base level micro HT.
If these negatives are a problem for you, they are very easily overcome by spending your cash on main brand HTs.
Would I order another one? Absolutely YES.
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KF6HCD
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 4, 2012 12:03
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I like it okay
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I got the Mark 2 (Dual Display, dual band antenna) from Wouxun.us.
Ordered on Wednesday, arrived Saturday.
The good:
Small size, battery life, FM broadcast receiver.
Not so good:
No dedicated volume control. Menu driven squelch.
I take this little gem everywhere. I put a Miracle Baby stubby on the rig and put it right in my pocket. I also carry the stock antenna for "medium" distance and a 1/4 wave whip for longest range, but use the Miracle Baby most out of the three. I like how it disappears in my hand, but is loud enough to be heard over traffic noise. Receive audio is clean. Transmitted audio is reported to be very clean and loud (watch out! The mic is REAL hot - back about six inches will do nicely). The torch comes in handy, but nothing special. The wide coverage makes it possible to use it on FRS/GMRS/MURS/Business (but I'd NEVER do that).
The speaker/mic is junk and it got tossed as soon as I tried it. Likewise, the belt clip. Radio fits in pocket anyway. With clip on the radio, it won't fit in the drop-in "charging tray" (which is barely useful for its intended purpose). I'd like to see that fixed, as well as the ability to charge the battery in-situ while the rig is actually IN the "drop-in charger." The battery CAN be charged in the charger, but you have to take the battery out of the radio, plug the charger cord into the charger and put the battery into the charger. Or, leave the battery in the radio and plug the charger barrel into the radio.
A little extra effort and a few more pennies per unit could add a LOT of value to this rig.
Runtime is impressive. Charge time is short.
The menu-driven operation and the location/function of the side and front buttons make this radio a bit "clunky" to program and operate, but using the USB cable is fast and easy. After about a week of using it, I am able to operate it without looking. Split CTCSS/DCS for XMIT/RECEIVE.
The Encoder is a bit dodgy, but still works well enough. Don't spill anything sticky in there! Real PITA to clean out. Upside is that the rig is easily disassembled.
I haven't noticed any problems with the side buttons, and the front buttons still work fine.
The plastic case feels quite thin and brittle; don't drop it! I'd like to see this case done up in some super hard epoxy/resin/toughcase kind of material.
The included neck-strap is a nice added extra bonus...
With all the features and low price, this radio is a solid addition to my operations. I can take this one as a backup while I carry my Wouxun KG-UV3D (or even by itself). Sometimes I actually forget it's in my pocket.
Would I recommend it to a friend? Yes. But for the price, I can flat-out buy one for them and call it an early Christmas. ;)
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F4GFT
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Rating: 3/5
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Feb 4, 2012 02:25
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Good secondary, poor primary radio
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I know that one must not compare apples to oranges, and that a product must be judged with respect to its price. But the low price of the UV3R does not excuse all its shortcomings, at least not for me (I have the Mark II version):
- The encoder (volume/freq control) is noisy, coarse and feels cheap. I doubt it will last long.
- The volume control makes it almost impossible to use the radio indoors.
- I don't get the point of a dual frequency display on this radio. The display is poorly designed and not very readable if I compare it to my ft-60
- The scan is awfully slow
- The radio does not have auto repeater offset, which makes it a pain to use on vacation, when you cannot rely on preprogrammed relay frequencies
- I find the programming procedure so tedious that I bought the USB cable, but since most here do not seem to bother, let's say it's just me and my Yaesu habits
- a problem with all plastic radios is the lack of counterpoise on 2m, but since it is intrinsical to the form factor, I won't blame Baofeng
- I do not dare to put my SRH771 antenna on it, as the longer antenna might break the thin plastic. Again, that is due to the form factor, and I do not blame Baofeng
- No DTMF, thus no Echolink. I know that a radio with this form factor can not have a numerical keypad, but they could have provided a means to recall DTMF sequences stored in memory.
- no ASCII labeling for the memories. The programming software suggests they will add it in a later version, but that will certainly require a firmware update (which to the best of my knowledge is not possible).
On the plus side, the battery life is good, and I can use my Yaesu speaker-mic with it. And did I mention that it's cheap?
To wrap it up, the UV3R would be a poor choice if it was my only UHF/VHF radio. Even if I consider that it cost just a third of what I paid for my FT-60 (which has QUALITY written in caps all over it), it's simply not enough radio for me. I bought it to have a cheap and light radio to travel in my bag all the time, but I notice that often I simply do not bother to take it out, because of its lack of usability. I hope to get used to it though over time.
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YD1OCG
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 3, 2012 03:09
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Cheap radio option for traveling
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I give the value of 5 for the price and features in it,
every time I traveled was always accompanied in the pocket, while in the last city of Surabaya East Java Indonesia, can open a repeater as far as 74km on hi power 2wat located on Mount Pananjakan East Java Indonesia,
can even open repeater with low power at a distance of about 48km is also open to perfection,
I have bought several radio and recommend it to friends
Indonesian review can be read at: http://www.kaskus.us/showthread.php?t=9188607
regards 73,
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N8QMK
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 28, 2012 21:36
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Mine's still a champ!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Update review: I had very favorable impressions of my UV-3R Dual Display in an earlier review. It's still a fantastic piece of technology. It's still quirky like an older Alinco (you old timers know what I'm talking about.) It still doesn't support DTMF...but which club kept their Autopatch this long into the era of the cellphone? None within earshot of my QTH. I can't imagine a bigger bargain in Amateur Radio today...maybe the guys who dislike theirs purchased ones of the wrong color... the yellow ones work just fine. Don't throw them out, send them to me!
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WB1EVP
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 28, 2012 09:55
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Excellent Radio for Cheap Money
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I'm rating this radio based on two of the most important things - price and usefullness. Price was $50 delivered from 409shop dot com in China, an excellent seller. I have used this radio on the 144-148 and 440-450 ham bands with excellent results. The shaped audio of this radio sounds like a more expensive radio, the audio and signal reports I am getting are excellent for only 2 watts. Works as well as my WOUXUN radio that has 4 watts. The LED flashlight comes in handy. The FM radio receiver is very sensitive on either supplied antenna. Battery life is very good and monitoring public safety users within the bands is great also with CTCSS on receive. Wish it had more, sure! But for FIFTY bucks? It's a bargain! And programming software is free and easy to use! The cord was included with the price in my case. I'm buying a couple more to keep in spare cars, with the 12vdc cords. 73
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N4PIQ
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Rating: 0/5
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Jan 25, 2012 03:28
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U get what U pay for
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Received unit with no audio out of the speaker and unable to switch to Fm. Found out it would cost 1/2 the price I paid for it to ship it back and I would get charged for shipping to me on the replacement.
Threw it in the trash. Chinese junk.
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N9VGT
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 23, 2012 21:22
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So far so good
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just received 2 of these today. I got one for me and one for my XYL. So far they both work perfectly. I like the small size, that it is dual-band, and is easy to program. This is a lot of radio for less tha $90.00 including shipping for both, and they threw in a free earpiece for each one. The manual didn't mention how to get to and from your memory presets. You need to press and hold the U/V button. Finally, be aware that it has an "emergency alert" function and since the switch that activates this is just below the PTT switch, it's quite easy to accidentally hit it and send this attention-getting tone over the air.
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